Working together for a SAFER Baltimore !

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Our Work

The Mission

The CPP, focuses on five major components of the process and procedures that have traditionally omitted the input and concerns of the residents of communities of color and lower socioeconomic status, and institute methods that empower the community to take the initiative to get involved and in front of the Consent Decree implementation process and Police policy and procedure in Baltimore City.

1) Education (Accessibility)

The first task of the Citizens Policing Project (CPP) on Consent Decree implementation will be to inform the Community Leadership and General Populace about the actual Investigation process, the role they could/should assume and the history and the role of the CPP consultants during the DOJ investigation, the creation of the consent decree, the monitor selection as well as the Community Oversight Task Force.

2) Investigation – CPP educates and informs Community Organizations, Activists and the general populace of the community entering this process, on the level of ‘power’ they each have to influence the changes that the parties of the consent decree take into the negotiations with their local municipality. By sharing best practices on collecting evidence and testimony from affected and concerned community members, creating Community Centered Commissions to identify and expose long standing issues that have oppressed and afflicted their Cities, and collecting documentation, if available, of past instances of misconduct, abuse of power and blatant Brutality.

3) Documentation– CPP helps Identify the local assets in the community, for example, the scholars and longtime activists who have been engaged in this fight, to create a pool of collected data that can be used to influence recommendations for positive reforms and initiatives. The CPP will then assist in formalizing these complaints, testimonies and other documentation into a published Report, to be used as a community voice throughout the Consent Decree process.

4) Collabora​tion

CPP assists in organizing the collaboration with the BPD and help community organizations and members recognize their own power to actively be involved in the entire process by utilizing it’s established relationships with the DOJ, the Independent Monitor, the Consent Decree Implementation Unit, the Office of the Inspector General as well as City Hall and assuming a position of ‘conduit’ for information between BPD and the community. By also sharing their own experiences and initiatives, the CPP will demonstrate ideas on how to organize events, forums, workshops, listening campaigns and community meetings that allow BPD and other agencies to set up both formal and informal interactions with residents and hear the concerns of the City’s residents.

5) Sustainab​ility– CPP assists neighborhoods in creating entities to act as ‘Agents’ for the Parties of the consent decree throughout the implementation process and ensure that the recommendations are being followed and timelines set forth are adhered to. These Agents can also serve as the Community Oversite Groups or ‘Watch Dogs’ of the assigned Monitoring Entity, to deter corruption and undue influence, by immediately giving all party’s feedback on the process, and ensuring that what is being reported by the monitor is Actually what is the reality of the residents at street level.

Working together for a SAFER Baltimore !

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